Documentary exposes BNP

POLICE launched an investigation today after seeing undercover film footage in which British National Party activists confess to racially motivated crimes.

A BBC documentary shows party leader Nick Griffin condemning Islam as a "vicious, wicked faith" - and admitting the comment could land him in jail.

MPs claimed the film revealed the true face of the far-Right party, which has won seats on a handful of councils across England.

Home Secretary David Blunkett faced calls to intervene. But the Home Office said it was for West Yorkshire Police to decide on any action to take.

A police spokesman said the force was examining the programme's claims to see if any offences had been committed.

Undercover BBC reporter Jason Gwynne spent six months with the BNP's West Yorkshire branch after being smuggled into its ranks by a defector.

He recorded one activist, Steve Barkham, boasting of a 2001 attack on an Asian man during the Bradford riots.

Another member, Stewart Williams, told the reporter that he wanted to "blow up" Bradford's mosques with a rocket launcher and machinegun worshippers with "about a million bullets".

Mr Griffin was recorded telling a meeting in Keighley: "You've got to stand up and do something for the British National Party because otherwise they [Muslims] will do for someone in your family. That is the truth.

"For saying that, I tell you, I will get seven years if I said that outside - if I said that in front of people who go and report it to the police."

BBC producer Karen Wightman said she was handing material to the police and Crown Prosecution Service, and hoped forces would investigate and lay charges. Magistrate Bary Malik, president of Bradford's Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said: "This programme shows the true nature of the BNP.

"It has been a racist organisation from day one, but they've hidden their true face. I hope David Blunkett will take some action."

Labour MP Ann Cryer said BNP supporters were "mistaken" if they thought they were "voting for a normal party". It has "a very intense hatred of people's religion and colour", she said. "I hope this will be a wake-up call."

The BNP's four councillors in Bradford declined to comment today.

In BBC1's Secret Agent programme (9pm tonight), Mr Barkham gives a graphic description of the assault he says he took part in. He escaped prosecution when three white men and the victim were later convicted of affray.

He tells the BBC reporter: "I gave him a good f***ing hiding, because that's what he asked for ... I'm kicking him, kicking away, kicking away. Oh, it was f***ing fantastic."

The programme also includes a BNP council candidate, Dave Midgley, admitting he squirted dog faeces through the letterbox of an Asian takeaway over a period of three weeks.

Another BNP local council candidate, Stewart Williams, is seen claiming to possess an antique firearm and saying: "All I want to do is shoot Pakis."